Let's unite just in prayer together before we come around the Word of God and then to remember our Savior and His appointed way. Our loving Father, our gracious God, we go. Enter in, Lord, to this sacred place and to this sacred spot where we remember our great Redeemer and His great sacrifice upon Calvary's cruel cross. We're humbled, Lord. All titles, all achievements, they fall, Lord, here. They mean nothing here. But we are one with thyself. We thank thee for our union with Christ. We find ourselves accepted through him. May our hearts and our minds go to Calvary today. And may, dear God, we love Thee. And may we serve Thee with Calvary love. We pray these are prayers in Jesus' name. Amen. We're turning to two verses in Revelation chapter 10. Revelation chapter 10. I'll not be speaking or bringing really a message from them. There are a couple of words that I want to draw your attention to and then what we find in these two verses. Revelation chapter 10 and the verse number nine. And I went on to the angel and said unto him, give me the little book. And he said unto me, take it and eat it up And it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. And I took a little book out of the angel's hand and added up, and it was in my mouth sweet as honey. And as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. Amen, and we'll end our reading at the end of the verse number 10. When we speak about something being bittersweet, We are referring to something that unites really bitterness and sweetness together. For example, when a son or a daughter gets married, that event in life could be termed as being bittersweet. There's the bitterness of a child leaving the family home. And then, along with that bitterness, there is the sweetness. of a new family member being added to the family, whether through a son-in-law or through a daughter-in-law. Here in Revelation chapter 10, we have this juxtaposition of bitterness and sweetness in this little book that John took from the angel and John ate. We're told that whenever he ate the book initially, that it was sweet. And then whenever it had reached the belly, it became bitter. As I came to think about the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ again, I came to think of it in this term, this term of being bittersweet. Bitter Calvary for Him. Sweet Calvary for me. Bitter Calvary for Him. but sweet Calvary for me. Let me develop those two thoughts just for a few moments. Bitter Calvary for him. There were many things that made Calvary bitter for the Savior. There was the bitter cup. This bitter cup was the cup of wrath. The Lord Jesus Christ is the substitute of his people. He would take that cup, metaphorically speaking, He would press it to his lips, and he would drink every bitter drop in it. As Anne Ross Cousins put it in her great hymn, death and the curse were in our cup. O Christ was full for thee, but thou hast drained the last dark drop, tis empty now for me. That bitter cup, love drank it up, Now blessings draught for me. And bless God, brethren and sisters, that cup will never be placed into the believer's hand. We will never have to taste of the cup of God's wrath. The cup we now drink is the cup of salvation. It is the cup of blessing, as Paul speaks of it here in this epistle. The cup of blessing, gospel blessing. The bitter cup made Calvary better for the Savior. The bitter taunts made Calvary better for him. From beneath the cross, the Savior's enemies taunted the Son of God. Matthew 24, verse 42 and 43, they said he saved others. Himself he cannot save. If he be the king of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusted in God. Let him deliver him now, if he will have him. For he said, I am the son of God. You know, their bitter taunts were more bitter than the gall that was given to him to drink. Remember the gall mingled with myrrh? was a bitter cup, it was a bitter drink, but these taunts were more bitter than the gall that he was forced or they tried to make him to drink. But Christ knew that if he had have saved himself his people would have been lost. He knew that if he had have saved himself that Satan would have triumphed. He knew that if he had saved himself, every gospel promise would have failed. And so he endured the bitter taunts. And he also endured the bitter agony. The agony of body coupled with the agony of heart, mind, and soul was bitterness indeed for the Son of God. And all the bitter agony that he endured, all the mental suffering, The sorrow of soul within the garden, the suffering of body upon the cross and prior to it, was all for sin. For my sin, for your sin. The bitter agony made Calvary better. And then the bitter separation. Eli, Eli, lama sabbath kanai, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Here we come to the heights and the depths of the bitterness of the Savior. To be forsaken by his disciples was what we would call a bitter pill to swallow. He had invested his life for three years into them and his ministry, and yet they forsake him at the hour that he needs them the most. It was a better pill to swallow, but nothing compared to the bitterness of being forsaken by his father. The father turns his face away. This is what made a better Calvary for him. The better cup, the better tons, the better agony, the better separation, but because of the bitterness that he endured, though bitter calvary for him, sweet calvary for me. Out of the Savior's bitter experience came forth unspeakable sweetness for every child of God, the sweetness of a ransom price paid, of reconciliation made with God. forgiveness and pardon for sin as well as peace with God secured. Oh, the sweetness of such things. And then there is the sweetness of our adoption into his family, the guarantee of a home in heaven at the end of life's journey. Out of Calvary's bitterness, sweetness flows. And that's why we gather around the table. to remember the bitterness, but to rejoice in the sweetness. We remember bitter Calvary for him. We rejoice in sweet Calvary for me. May God be pleased to thrill our hearts as we consider our Savior once again. For Christ's sake. Amen.